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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25442941">Dig Your Heels In</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinalfluids/pseuds/spinalfluids'>spinalfluids</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Cowboy Bebop (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, F/M, If you believe Spike survived atleast, Post-Canon, its fluffy at the end trust me, pretty much spike and faye have a conversation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 07:35:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,107</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25442941</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinalfluids/pseuds/spinalfluids</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>It wasn't supposed to go like this. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>  <em>A knife. Faye watched helplessly as the blood poured out of her in an instant. It was warm, sickly, thick; painting her torso in one gush.</em></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Spike Spiegel/Faye Valentine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Dig Your Heels In</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn't supposed to go like this. </p><p>A knife. Faye watched helplessly as the blood poured out of her in an instant. It was warm, sickly, thick; painting her torso in one gush. The knife moved further, creating an even larger gash across her side as if her skin was as soft as a pillow. She hadn't realized what was happening until a sudden bang rang through her ears, and she quickly glanced up to see a clean bullet hole right between her perpetrator's eyes. </p><p>Only then did she gasp pathetically, immediately loosing her sense of balance and falling straight down to the hard concrete. The expectancy of roughly hitting the floor came to no avail, and she found herself in a pair of two arms instead. </p><p>"<em>Faye! Stay with me!</em>" A shout, echoing through her ears. She looked up and, despite the hopeful words, all she saw was pure despair locked in Spike's expression. </p><p>
  <em>What was with that look?</em> Faye thought absent-mindedly, almost angrily. 
</p><p>A few seconds pass and she found herself pondering about the events beforehand. A bounty. Some small crime endeavour group worth between ten to fifteen million. It was easy enough, catch the four big guys and get the full price. But as they tied them up, there was a miscalculation, because a fifth man came up from the shadows and sliced her right above the hips in pure rage, only to get instantly shot. </p><p>That brings her to now. </p><p>The pain was finally settling in, and a familiar feeling of warm liquid sweetly poured down her pretty face. A thousand needles began stabbing at her side non-stop, that so much as a small little stretch sent a shockwave throughout her entire body. Faye knew she didn't want to die. Not yet. She was never the one to take the easy way out even if she's thought of it once too many times; she sought out aspirations that those in her life would never believe to see. She has so much to live for goddammit! She has to pay off her debt, she has to go on more adventures, she has so many jokes to tell, she has magazines still yet to be read, she has food yet to try... </p><p>
  <em>She has people she wants to protect!</em>
</p><p>"Spike.." Faye whimpered feebly, her grip at his shirt strong for somebody who just got mercilessly stabbed. "Spike, I.."</p><p>He quickly hushed her, quickly bringing his hands down to that nasty wound of hers with enough pressure to make her back arch instinctively. <em>So much blood,</em> Faye thought, as if that was a statement yet to be discovered. </p><p>"Jet'll be here soon, okay?" Spike said swifty, desperately trying to stop the blood flow with his hands alone. And her gaze was still fixated on his expression, irretrievably fighting through the agony as she hoped to distract herself with the man in front of her. </p><p>Faye realized, there was something so sad to him. Something too familiar, like he's seen this a thousand times before, like he doesn't believe the own things that came out of his mouth. All at once she recalled the people in his past. Shin, Rocco, Annie, Mao, <em>Julia</em>. Death was everywhere he walked, <em>and it was killing him</em>.</p><p>If she were to leave this Earth right now, would it be the last straw for him? </p><p>Faye continued to look at Spike. It hurt to watch. She never thought she'd live to see the day that Spike would look so broken, so tragically strained and full of anguished emotions. He was someone who talked with his eyes, someone who kept a hardened attitude towards any stressful situation, but here? He isn't pulling any punches. And it hurt, almost as much as her wound did. </p><p>She was suddenly filled with a sense of determination. No, no, today was not her fucking day. Faye Valentine was going to live through this just as she lived through all those years of cryo. She knew her star would still be twinkling in the sky dead on-the-money tomorrow, the same way it was twinkling today. This wasn't going to be her dream, this wasn't going to be her gamble, this was the <em>harsh reality.</em> </p><p>It was a chore to even breath right now, but she smiled up at Spike. Crooked, maybe, she can't tell. But nonetheless, she knew it was a deep-cut smile that was going to put her lover into his place. </p><p>"Spike, listen.." Faye croaked out, painfully bringing a shaken hand up towards his face. "I-I don't know what the <em>hell</em> you're thinking but... I'm not dying, you hear?" She swallowed, noticing the way her breath was wavering. "I won't allow it, not..  not one fucking bit." Faye placed her bloodied hand on his cheek, struggling to keep that confident smile going. "<em>I love you</em>, got it? You think I'm gonna die on you like this? Well you have another thing coming, Cowboy. I'm gonna stay with you for a long time, whether you like it or not."<br/>
She tried to inhale, but more blood wanted to flow out, and she had finally cried out to him. "I'm going to live... <em>I'm going to live with you, dammit!</em>

</p><p>Silence. </p><p>Then in the darkening, tunnel vision of her view, a glint of hope returned to those worn out eyes of his. </p><p>Her smile returned. That was all Faye needed to see. </p><p>Spike had said something, but it all came out in echos, nothing more. Her eyes fluttered, and the hand at his cheek pitifully fell to his side. </p><p>Finally, the black circle encapsulating her sight was closing in, but Faye swore her eyelids were still open. Any sound was just pure ringing at this point, and her thoughts formed into nothing. Instantaneously the pain went away; she was floating peacefully in whatever pitch black surrounding she saw herself in. Soon, the need of falling asleep began overtaking her. </p><p>But Faye also perceived the sensation of someone forcing to keep her eyes open; a slight slap to the cheek whenever she felt herself drifting away. The pain settled back in then disappeared once again in an annoying rhythm. </p><p>Very annoying indeed, yet something inside of her kept fighting to obey. </p><p>She did.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Faye awoken to a ceiling fan and the smell of blood. </p><p>Her eyes darted to anywhere she could see in this limited position of hers, wherever she was. Faye subconsciously decided that abruptly sitting up to get a better look was a wonderfully smart idea, but the attempt alone left her head pounding and grabbing at her unusually burning side. </p><p>Side... Side? She glanced down. Oh shit. </p><p>"Faye?"</p><p>Someone rushed to her side. Faye looked up. </p><p>Lord and behold, it was Spike. </p><p>"You're awake! Fuck, finally!"</p><p>It was a rather sour sounding sentence, but that hopeful look he had brought a twinkle to her lips. All at once, she was finally aware of her surroundings. Aware of the bandages, aware of the yellow couch she lay on, aware of the glass of water in his hands. Faye took it greedily, and gulped down the water nearly immediately, with his help to hold her up of course. </p><p>She finalized with a sigh of contempt, and she couldn't tell if it was because of Spike's gentle hold allowing her to lie back down or because of the cold water running down her dry throat. Maybe it just felt nice being taken cared of for once.<br/>
Though, she wouldn't make it a habit. </p><p>"Finally, you say?" Faye chuckled. "Imagine how I feel everytime you get hurt."</p><p>"Oh, I can imagine." Spike plopped down on the table, a roll of bandages in his hands. "Least, we both know how to patch a stab wound."</p><p>Faye playfully punched her lover in the shoulder, as much as she could anyway. "Sounds like you're down playing my injury there, lunkhead."</p><p>"Well, I'd say it was almost as comparable as a katana to the guts, so there's that."</p><p>"Hm. You and Jet had a doctor come over, didn't you?"</p><p>"Agh, fine, you caught me." </p><p>Spike motioned over to her wound, and she pulled up her shirt up just enough for him to be able to change the bandages. As he worked on carefully unwrapping the soiled ones, she smiled at the aforementioned piece of clothing. </p><p>"Is this your shirt?"</p><p>He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I didn't bother rummaging through the mess of your closet."</p><p>"So you changed my top?" Faye smirked. </p><p>Spike only smirked back. "Of course. Think I'd let anyone else do that?"</p><p>She laughed, and it hurt. </p><p>"Okay now, take it easy."</p><p>Was it possible to kiss the sound of someone's tone of voice? Because Spike's soft little concerned whisper and grunt of seriousness was a privilege to hear. </p><p>"Shit. This is definitely gonna scar."</p><p>"You could always get corrective surgery for it. Cheap."</p><p>"I don't wanna add more to my debt than I already have."</p><p>"Then don't complain." Spike rolled his eyes, still focused. "I heard that scars were considered sexy nowadays anyways. No need to worry about that."</p><p>Faye laughed at that, pained again, then continued to lay in silence for quite a bit, watching as Spike fumbled to clean the wound. She'd bite her lip to conceal the pain, and she'd sometimes receive a deadly cold chill down her spine. But a sweet rub of her hand and a kiss to her temple eased her concerns straight away. Y'know, if she told her past self from a year ago that Spike could be a genuinely endearing and kind man when he <em>really</em> wanted to be, past-Faye would've laughed hysterically at her. </p><p>"So, what did the doc say?'</p><p>"The usual stuff." Spike shrugged. "Though he did mention something about you loosing a ton of blood, and how you're lucky that you were even alive when he worked on stitching your insides back up... Said your kidney got punctured or... yeah."</p><p>Something about the way he worded that made her want to laugh, but his expression was anything but funny. It reminded her too much of when she was in his arms. </p><p>"Oh... Uhm, what happened after I lost consciousness?" </p><p>"Uh.. Jet came pretty quick. We brought you back to the Bebop and got you stabilized before the doctor came." Thank god they didn't put her in a hospital, she can't handle those places. "Normally we could've handled this but... Shit Faye, <em>there was so much blood</em> and... and all those <em>fucking</em> stitches—"</p><p>He stopped for a moment. And looked up at her. </p><p>"I was scared."</p><p>Faye stared in surprise, the fact that he would even admit that touched something inside of her. And while she figured that was the case when it happened, she never would've thought he'd flat out say it to her. </p><p>She let him continue. </p><p>"I've seen stuff like that time and time again. It never ended good, at all. And you? That was near fatal for fucks sake." Spike shook his head, sighing. "I've had near-fatal injuries all the time, you've seen the worst of them too. But it's different when it's someone else— when death is a common occurrence in your life."</p><p>Spike sat back down on the table, finally smiling again, looking more relieved than anything else. </p><p>"Truth be told, I've.. never met someone as stubborn as you, Faye."</p><p>Normally she would've said something along the lines of <em>what is that supposed to mean?!</em> But, well, she knew exactly what he meant. And she felt herself grin at it.</p><p>"....<em>Lunkhead</em>."</p><p>"<em>Ha.</em>"</p><p>He leaned down to kiss her, more tender and intimate than any painkiller in the world. 
She still could use the painkillers, though. </p><p>And honestly, Faye wanted that kiss to last more than it did. But as she wrapped her arms around his neck and depended the kiss, her stomach growled quite embarrassingly. Loudly, too. Didn't help that Spike pulled away and laughed. </p><p>She huffed. "Where's Jet anyways? I expected him to be here and act like he wasn't worrying over me. Y'know, like the sap he is."</p><p>"Oh, he was worrying alright. Everyone's in bed though, sun's already set."</p><p><em>Except you,</em> Faye smiled, wondering just how much he came to check on her, how long she was asleep, what she was doing each and everytime she was in and out of consciousness; wondering if he was the same way she'd act when he got himself hurt like always. But that was a conversation for a later time, because they're already at each other's lips again and she didn't want another distraction from the wonders of his sweet nothings.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi again! Much different from the fluffier oneshot I wrote last time ^^</p><p>I hope I didn't make Spike too completely "open". I'm sure his walls are more lowered when he's in a relationship but he still would express himself less verbally. </p><p>As you can probably see Faye was the one igniting the conversations during the after math of her stabbing (atleast until the end), Spike didn't exactly feel like bringing much up about it. </p><p>Speaking of stabbing! Whew! I've never really written violence like that before, so I'm sure it wasn't the best! But nonetheless I hope you all enjoyed this. I pretty much wrote it on impulse at four am &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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